Reports By Year > 2011

Below are a set of links to all reports published by KHRG matching your search criteria and compiled from information received from KHRG's field researchers. If you wish to search for a particular report, please use our main search page.

Our News Bulletins are available via email, subscribe to the KHRG newsletter list by entering your email address on the KHRG homepage. Topics covered in News Bulletins will generally be documented in more detail in future KHRG reports.

There were 66 reports in 2011. These are listed below.

REPORT TITLE	DATE
'All the information I've given you, I faced it myself': Rural testimony on abuse in eastern Burma since November 2010  [Regional or Thematic report]	Dec 15th, 2011
Human rights abuses faced by ethnic communities across rural eastern Burma have continued since November 2010, and are consistent with patterns KHRG has documented since 1992. Drawing from a dataset of 1,270 oral testimonies, sets of images and documentation written and collected over the last year by villagers trained to monitor human rights conditions in their own communities, this report presents information on 17 categories of abuse and quantifies their occurrence across KHRG research areas. By placing recent testimony from villagers in the context of twenty years of abusive practices, this report should make clear that developments since the 2010 elections have neither expanded villagers’ options for claiming their human rights, nor addressed the root causes of abuse in rural eastern Burma. External assessments of developments in Burma that ignore local perspectives on continuing human rights abuse thus exclude the input of the most knowledgeable and engaged stakeholders – who also stand to lose the most from inaccurate conclusions drawn without their participation. The testimony presented in the report should thus function as a critique of any attempt to assess changes in Burma that ignores local perspectives, and a call to heed the concerns of rural people who are gauging, on a day-to-day basis, the way past, present and continuing abuse impacts the future for communities in eastern Burma.
Tenasserim Situation Update: Te Naw Th’Ri Township, May to September 2011  [News Bulletin]	Dec 12th, 2011
This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in October 2011 by a villager describing events occurring in Tenasserim Division between May and October 2011. The villager describes incidents of human rights abuse, including: arbitrary taxation by civilian and military government officials to fund state-organised pyi thu sit local militia groups and schools; conscription of villagers into a pyi thu sit; and the execution of Saw L---, a villager who had been forced to serve as a guide accompanying an active patrol column of LIB #558. The villager who wrote this report believed Saw L--- was killed in retaliation for an attack against that Tatmadaw column by KNLA soldiers, in which one Tatmadaw soldier was killed and several others injured. This report also documents some of the ways in which villagers respond to human rights abuse, specifically through attempts to engage and negotiate with local powerful actors to reduce or avoid demands for arbitrary payments levied against villagers.
Papun Situation Update: Dweh Loh Township, Received in November 2011  [News Bulletin]	Dec 12th, 2011
This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in November 2011 by a villager describing events occurring in Dweh Loh Township, Papun District, between December 2010 and September 2011. This report provides additional information about the summary execution of Saw K---, previously reported by KHRG in October 2011 in the bulletin “Villager executed in Papun District”, and also documents the arbitrary arrest of civilians who were subsequently forced to porter for Tatmadaw troops. It also describes de facto movement restrictions caused by the indiscriminate firing of heavy weapons and machine guns into travel routes and agricultural areas surrounding villages as a security precaution during Tatmadaw resupply operations. The report details the ways in which villagers in areas beyond government control engage in covert trade with villagers living in areas under government control and employ early-warning systems to flee Tatmadaw patrols.
Dooplaya Situation Update: August 2011 to September 2011  [News Bulletin]	Dec 9th, 2011
This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in September 2011 by a villager describing events and military activities occurring in Kawkareik Township, Dooplaya District, during the period between August and September 2011. The villager describes the shelling of civilian areas by DKBA troops resulting in the destruction of a villager’s house, and villagers’ fears of violence by DKBA forces following the defection of a DKBA soldier to Tatmadaw Border Guard troops and his transport through the area around their community. The report also details demands for payment issued by KNU/KNLA Peace Council soldiers; discusses the death of a KNU/KNLA Peace Council officer by natural causes; and raises villagers’ concerns about the flooding of bean and corn plantations along the Moei River at the beginning of September which resulted in destruction of farmers’ seeds and crops.
Nyaunglebin Situation Update: August to October 2011  [News Bulletin]	Dec 9th, 2011
This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in November 2011 by a villager describing events occurring in Ler Doh Township, Nyaunglebin District between August and October 2011. The report describes the an incident of forced labour in which villagers were forced to clear undergrowth from a palm oil plantation at IB 60 military headquarters, as well as arbitrary demands for villagers to provide money, firewood, wooden logs and food to Tatmadaw troops. The villager who wrote this report notes that governmental administrative reforms at the village tract level have resulted in increased demands for payment from civilian officials at a time when flooding in flat areas of paddy cultivation adjacent to the Sittaung River at the end of the 2011 monsoon has substantially impacted villagers’ food security. The villager also raises local communities’ concerns regarding the proposed construction of a dam on the Theh Loh River; and requirements that civilians provide guarantees that non-state armed groups will not attack Tatmadaw troops, which villagers fear will lead to reprisals from Tatmadaw soldiers if fighting does occur. This report also documents several ways in which villagers in Ler Doh Township have responded to abuses, including the formation of Mu Kha Poe village security groups to monitor Tatmadaw troop activity and warn other community members of incoming Tatmadaw patrols and attacks;; and cooperation with other villagers and with local community-based aid groups to secure food support, communication equipment, education materials and medical treatment.
Definitional ambiguity and UNSCR 1998: Impeding UN-led responses to attacks on health and education in eastern Burma  [Article or paper]	Dec 6th, 2011
This paper highlights impediments to effective international responses to attacks on health and education in eastern Burma presented by lack of clarity regarding the meaning of “attacks” within the monitoring and reporting framework established by UN Security Council resolutions 1612 and 1998. In order to address this definitional ambiguity and enable recent developments in the UN Security Council to potentially provide support to communities facing attacks in eastern Burma, this paper argues for interpreting “attacks” in a fashion that is consistent with applicable international humanitarian law. The analysis below concludes that UN-led monitoring, reporting and response pursuant to UNSCRs 1612 and 1998 should include acts by parties to armed conflict that both: a) violate relevant international law; and b) attack or threaten to attack personnel related to schools or medical facilities and/ or destroy, damage or force the closure of a school or medical facility.
Attacks on Health and Education: Trends and incidents from eastern Burma, 2010-2011  [Regional or Thematic report]	Dec 6th, 2011
This report presents primary evidence of attacks on education and health in eastern Burma collected by KHRG during the period February 2010 to May 2011. Section I of this report details KHRG research methodology; Section II analyses general trends in armed conflict and details a loose typology of attacks identified during the reporting period. Section III applies this typology to 16 particularly illustrative incidents, and analyses them in light of relevant international humanitarian law and UN Security Council resolutions 1612, 1882 and 1998. These incidents were selected from a database detailing 59 attacks on civilians documented by KHRG between February 2010 and May 2011.
Incident Report: Villager shot and killed in Pa’an District, October 2011  [News Bulletin]	Dec 1st, 2011
The following report was written by a villager trained by KHRG to document human rights abuses, and details an incident that occurred on October 29th 2011 in P--- village, during which soldiers from Tatmadaw IB #230 fired small arms at three civilians as they fled their house in P--- village, and two KNLA soldiers who had been cooking food in the house. Saw A---, a 36-year-old married farmer who had returned to P--- to help his wife’s family harvest paddy, was shot in the head and killed as the group ran away from the house The villager who wrote this report visited P--- village two weeks after the incident occurred to document the incident: the villager took the 32 photographs included in this report; spoke with Saw A---’s brother-in-law and mother-in-law, who were the other two civilians who fled the IB #230 soldiers and witnessed Saw A---’s death; and spoke with another P--- resident who heard the gunfire and witnessed the soldiers entering the house after the group fled. The full transcript of a recorded audio interview with Saw A---’s brother-in-law is available in the bulletin "Pa’an Interview: Saw C---, November 2011" published by KHRG on December 1st 2011.
Pa’an Interview: Saw C---, October 2011  [News Bulletin]	Dec 1st, 2011
This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted during October 2011 in Lu Pleh Township, Pa’an District by a villager trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions. The villager interviewed Saw C---, a 23-year-old unmarried hill field farmer, who described an incident in which his brother-in-law, Saw A---, 36, was shot and killed by patrolling Tatmadaw soldiers from IB 230 in the Kler Day area of Lu Pleh Township, Pa’an District. Saw C--- explained that he, his mother Naw G---, two KNLA soldiers who were cooking in the house at the time, and his brother-in-law Saw A--- fled their house when Tatmadaw soldiers entered P--- village and that, as they fled, the soldiers fired at them. According to Saw C---, one of the bullets hit Saw A--- on the right side of his head, killing him immediately. A separate report of this incident written by the villager who conducted this interview, which includes 23 photos taken by the same villager, is available in the bulletin "Incident report: Villager shot and killed in Pa’an District, October 2011" published by KHRG on December 1st 2011.
Toungoo Situation Update: July to October 2011  [News Bulletin]	Nov 29th, 2011
This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in November 2011 by a villager describing events occurring in Toungoo District during the period between July and October 2011. It details incidents of violence against civilians, including: shooting and killing by Tatmadaw LIB #540 of two villagers hunting monkeys in an area adjacent to a Tatmadaw camp; arbitrary detentions of eight civilians, of whom only three have been released by LIB #539 and IB #73; and the beating of a village head following a KNLA attack against Tatmadaw troops. The villager also cites examples of a range of abuses affecting villagers’ livelihoods, including: forced labour repairing a road and producing and delivering bamboo poles to a Tatmadaw camp; theft and damage of villagers’ possessions by patrolling Tatmadaw troops, including destruction of villagers’ durian and dogfruit trees; the imposition of movement restrictions preventing villagers from sleeping in their field huts, backed by an explicit threat of violence against villagers violating the ban; de facto movement restrictions on villagers due to Tatmadaw activity; and arbitrary demands for payment by Tatmadaw troops. This report also raises concerns about the health situation in Tantabin Township following the 2011 monsoon, including an outbreak of cholera that interfered with the harvest of cardamom, durian and paddy crops, and may have adverse consequences on villagers’ food and financial security during the coming year. The report also notes that some villagers access health services from the KNU Health Department and other relief groups in response to constraints on access to health care in areas of Tantabin Township outside consolidated Tatmadaw control.
Tatmadaw soldiers shell village, attack church and civilian property in Toungoo District  [News Bulletin]	Nov 25th, 2011
On October 12th 2011, soldiers from Tatmadaw Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) #603 and Infantry Battalion (IB) #92 shelled and then attacked on foot W--- village in the Htee Tha Saw area of Than Daung Township following a clash with Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) soldiers approximately 45 minutes on foot from W--- village. According to Saw F---, a resident of W--- village who fled and hid in the forest during the attack, Tatmadaw soldiers fired approximately 50 mortar rounds into W--- and nearby civilian areas and then entered W---, where soldiers fired small arms deliberately at villagers’ houses, the Roman Catholic church and religious and cultural items; killed villagers’ animals; and looted or damaged villagers’ property including food stores, clothing, roofing materials and money. This report is based on information provided by two villagers trained by KHRG to monitor human rights abuses, including two situation reports, one incident report, an audio interview with Saw F---, and 82 photographs and three video clips taken in the W--- village area one week after the attack occurred.
Request for Inquiry: Service history of Myanmar Ambassador to South Africa  [Regional or Thematic report]	Nov 25th, 2011
This briefing document summarises research conducted by KHRG regarding the service history of Tatmadaw Brigadier General Myint Naung, and documented incidents of abuse reported to have been perpetrated by units he may have commanded as Operation Commander of Tatmadaw Military Operation Command (MOC) #4. This information raises serious questions and concerns regarding the background of the current Myanmar Ambassador, U Myint Naung. The South Africa government should therefore seek to obtain further information from the Myanmar government that can clarify the Ambassador’s service record in the Tatmadaw, and follow up with inquiries regarding any specific incidents of serious abuse perpetrated by units under his command. Such steps are within South Africa’s rights under international law governing diplomatic relations, and consistent with all states’ duty under customary international humanitarian law to ensure respect for international humanitarian law erga omnes. KHRG believes that such an inquiry would contribute to raising opportunity costs for potential perpetrators of serious abuse in Burma as well as supporting domestic reforms, potentially precipitating positive changes in abusive Tatmadaw practices that could ultimately reduce the frequency with which certain abuses occur, while supporting the strategies used by local communities in Burma to claim their human rights on a day-to-day basis. This document was compiled by KHRG in response to queries by journalists and advocacy organisations in South Africa regarding the background of the Myanmar Ambassador.
Toungoo Interview: Saw F---, October 2011  [News Bulletin]	Nov 25th, 2011
This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted during October 2011 in Than Daung Township, Toungoo District by a villager trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions. The villager interviewed Saw F---, a 55-year-old resident of W--- village who fled his village and hid in the forest during a joint attack by soldiers from Tatmadaw Infantry Battalion (IB) #92 and Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) #603. According to Saw F---, on October 12th 2011, following a clash with Karen National Liberation (KNLA) soldiers at a location 45 minutes on foot from W---, Tatmadaw soldiers fired approximately 50 mortar rounds into W--- and nearby civilian areas and then entered W---, where soldiers fired small arms deliberately at villagers’ houses, the Roman Catholic church and religious and cultural items; killed villagers’ animals; and looted or damaged villagers’ property including food stores, clothing, roofing materials and money. Saw F--- also reported that W--- villagers have had to provide forced labour delivering bamboo poles to Tatmadaw camps on multiple occasions in the past year; that the W--- school has been forced to close twice due to Tatmadaw accusations that villagers are communicating with non-state armed groups; and that villagers face obstacles in accessing healthcare due to their distance from the nearest health facility and the cost of travel. A full account of the attack on W---, including photo documentation and excerpts of this interview, is available in the bulletin “Tatmadaw soldiers shell village, attack church and civilian property in Toungoo District,” published by KHRG on November 25th 2011.
Toungoo Situation Update: October 2011  [News Bulletin]	Nov 25th, 2011
This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in November 2011 by a villager describing a joint attack on a village in Than Daung Township by soldiers from Tatmadaw Infantry Battalion #92 and Light Infantry Battalion #603. During the attack the Tatmadaw soldiers fired mortars into the village, prompting residents to flee into the nearby forest; soldiers then entered and fired small arms inside the village, and looted, damaged, or destroyed food, money and other property belonging to the villagers who had fled. A full account of the attack on W---, based on this and one other situation update written by a different villager, an interview with a resident of W---, and photo documentation is available in the bulletin "Tatmadaw soldiers shell village, attack church and civilian property in Toungoo District," published by KHRG on November 25th 2011.This report also notes that villagers in the area face demands for forced labour for local Tatmadaw units three or four times every year, specifically to serve as porters and guides for Tatmadaw troops and to clear vegetation from Tatmadaw camp perimeters. The villager who wrote this report further noted local concerns related to the provision of health care and education, as well as some of the strategies adopted by villagers in response to human rights concerns, including harvesting crops at night to protect livelihoods during Tatmadaw operations, and using traditional practices to treat illnesses in areas where Tatmadaw forces restrict transport of and trade in medicines.
Villager executed in Papun District  [News Bulletin]	Nov 18th, 2011
The following information was submitted to KHRG in September 2011 by a villager trained to document human rights abuses. It concerns an incident that occurred on September 7th 2011 in which the village head of L--- village in Dweh Loh Township was summarily executed by an unidentified Sergeant from Tatmadaw Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) #208, under Light Infantry Division (LID) #11. According to three L--- villagers who witnessed the execution, LIB #208 Deputy Battalion Commander Moe Zaw Oo was also present when the Sergeant under his command executed the L--- village head.
Thaton Situation Update: June to October 2011  [News Bulletin]	Nov 18th, 2011
This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in November 2011 by a villager describing events occurring in Pa’an Township, Thaton District between June and October 2011, specifically forced labour demands for villagers to clear vegetation from roads, to rebuild Tatmadaw Border Guard camps, to porter for three-month periods, and to guide and serve as human shields for Tatmadaw soldiers on active patrol duty. This report also details demands for villages to provide recruits and payments to support recruits’ salaries to Tatmadaw Border Guard Battalion #1014; arbitrary demands for payment in lieu of the provision of villagers to fill demands for forced labour; as well as an explicit threat of violence issued against village heads if they failed to comply with a Battalion #1014 demand to send villagers as porters. The report further documents the imposition of movement restrictions preventing villagers from accessing agricultural workplaces, and raises concerns about the future food security of residents living in areas proximate to the Salween River whose paddy fields were flooded and destroyed during the last rainy season.
Nyaunglebin Situation Update: Ler Doh Township, May to July 2011  [News Bulletin]	Nov 18th, 2011
This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in August 2011 by a villager describing events occurring in Ler Doh [Kyauk Kyi] Township, Nyaunglebin District, between May and July 2011. It provides details on human rights abuses committed by Tatmadaw Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) #345 including: demands for forced labour clearing vegetation around Tatmadaw camps, serving as set tha at Tatmadaw camps, and collecting and delivering building materials and firewood; the imposition of movement restrictions and the requirement that villagers purchase travel permission documents to access agricultural workplaces; arbitrary demands for food and payment; and an order to dismantle field huts. This report also notes that villagers were directly ordered by LIB #345 Captain Thet Zaw Win not to discuss or report demands for payment, and describes cooperation between public and military sector officials to levy demands for payment. This report also mentions that some villagers have responded to abuses by negotiating with Tatmadaw officers to avoid orders to dismantle their field huts, and by moving to areas beyond consolidated Tatmadaw control to access humanitarian support and pursue livelihoods activities.
Pa’an Situation Update: September 2011  [News Bulletin]	Nov 3rd, 2011
This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in September 2011 by a villager describing events occurring in T’Nay Hsah Township, Pa’an District during September 2011. It details an incident in which a soldier from Tatmadaw Border Guard #1017 deliberately shot at villagers in a farm hut, resulting in the death of one civilian and injury to a six-year-old child. The report further details the subsequent concealment of this incident by Border Guard soldiers who placed an M16 rifle and ammunition next to the dead civilian and photographed his body, and ordered the local village head to corroborate their story that the dead man was a Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) soldier. The report also relates villagers’ concerns regarding the use of landmines by both KNLA and Border Guard troops, which prevent villagers from freely accessing agricultural land and kill villagers' livestock and pets, and also relates an incident in September 2011 in which a villager was severely maimed when he stepped on a landmine that had been placed outside his farm.
Land confiscation threatens villagers' livelihoods in Dooplaya District  [News Bulletin]	Oct 31st, 2011
In September 2011, residents of Je--- village, Kawkareik Township told KHRG that they feared soldiers under Tatmadaw Border Guard Battalion #1022 and LIBs #355 and #546 would soon complete the confiscation of approximately 500 acres of land in their community in order to develop a large camp for Battalion #1022 and homes for soldiers’ families. According to the villagers, the area has already been surveyed and the Je--- village head has informed local plantation and paddy farm owners whose lands are to be confiscated. The villagers reported that approximately 167 acres of agricultural land, including seven rubber plantations, nine paddy farms, and seventeen betelnut and durian plantations belonging to 26 residents of Je--- have already been surveyed, although they expressed concern that more land would be expropriated in the future. The Je--- residents said that the village head had told them rubber plantation owners would be compensated according to the number of trees they owned, but that the villagers were collectively refusing compensation and avoiding attending a meeting at which they worried they would be ordered to sign over their land. The villagers that spoke with KHRG said they believed the Tatmadaw intended to take over their land in October after the end of the annual monsoon, and that this would seriously undermine livelihoods in a community in which many villagers depended on subsistence agriculture on established land. This bulletin is based on information collected by KHRG researchers in September and October 2011, including five interviews with residents of Je--- village, 91 photographs of the area, and a written record of lands earmarked for confiscation.
Toungoo Situation Update: May to July 2011  [News Bulletin]	Oct 31st, 2011
This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in August 2011 by a villager describing events occurring in Toungoo District between May and July 2011. It describes a series of trade and movement restrictions imposed on villagers in June and July 2011, due to frequent clashes between Tatmadaw and non-state armed groups, and road closures between Toungoo Town and Buh Sah Kee. The report also examines in detail the serious impacts the road closures have had on the livelihoods of villagers who have been unable to support themselves by transporting and selling agricultural produce and purchasing rice supplies as usual. The report further describes incidents of human rights abuse by Tatmadaw forces, including the summary execution of two civilians in July 2011 by soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) #379; forced labour including the portering of military supplies, the production and supply of building materials, guide duty and sweeping for landmines; and an attack on a village previously reported by KHRG and the subsequent destruction of villagers’ homes and food stores.
Pa’an Situation Update: June to August 2011  [News Bulletin]	Oct 27th, 2011
This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in September 2011 by a villager describing events occurring in Pa’an District between June 2011 and August 2011. It details recent Tatmadaw and Tatmadaw Border Guard activity, including camp locations and troop strength, and incidents related to a forced relocation order issued to eight villages in Lu Pleh Township by Tatmadaw Border Guard units on July 15th 2011. After the July 20th deadline for relocation, Tatmadaw and Border Guard forces commenced joint attacks against six of the villages ordered to relocate, including multiple days of heavy shelling and machine gun fire which the villager who submitted this report described as indiscriminate. On July 20th 2011 Border Guard troops also deliberately killed villagers’ livestock and fired mortars into civilian areas of R--- village, injuring a 50-year-old woman, while retreating from an attack by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) on the Border Guard camp in R---. This report further documents Tatmadaw Border Guard demands for forced labour and forced porters. The villager who submitted this update raises villagers’ concerns related to flooding along the Dta Greh [Hlaing Bwe] River during the 2011 monsoon season, and the abandonment of schools and loss of trade and livelihood opportunities due to forced relocation. This report notes that, in response to the abuses and concerns mentioned above, villagers in Pa’an District adopt strategies that include: moving to areas beyond Tatmadaw control, monitoring local security conditions, and hiding food stores in the jungle.
Pa’an Situation Update: September 2011  [News Bulletin]	Oct 24th, 2011
This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in September 2011 by a villager describing events occurring in Pa’an District in September 2011. It details an incident in which Tatmadaw and Tatmadaw Border Guard soldiers forced local villagers to porter military supplies and equipment while wearing Border Guard uniforms during a joint attack on a Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) encampment at Kler Law Hseh. The villager who wrote this situation update also reported that since this attack Border Guard soldiers have been based in the Kler Law Hseh area and have forced villagers to porter or make payments in lieu of portering, as well as perform forced labour on military-owned agricultural projects. The villager also reported two distinct incidents in which Tatmadaw and Border Guard troops have confiscated villagers’ land in order to build a military camp and cultivate bean plantations.
Displacement Monitoring: Regular updates on protection concerns for villagers in Dooplaya and Pa'an districts and adjacent areas in Thailand  [Field report]	Oct 21st, 2011
Civilians in Dooplaya District continue to be impacted by conflict between the Tatmadaw and armed Karen groups, who have increased fighting since November 7th 2010. The situation remains highly unstable and civilians report a variety of human rights and security concerns related to ongoing conflict and conflict-related abuse. In order to provide as current information as possible on the fighting and related protection concerns, KHRG has developed this page as a 'Displacement Monitoring' section of the KHRG website. Immediate situation updates, news bulletins, field reports, maps and photo galleries regarding the situation for civilians in Dooplaya will be made accessible through this page as KHRG receives new information. Information on this page was most recently updated on October 21st 2011.
Toungoo Situation Update: April to July 2011  [News Bulletin]	Oct 13th, 2011
This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in August 2011 by a villager describing events occurring in Toungoo District between April and July 2011. It describes a May 2011 attack on villages and the destruction of paddy and rice stores in the Maw Thay Der area of Tantabin Township, previously reported by KHRG, and relates the following human rights abuses by Tatmadaw forces: restrictions on movement and trade; including regular closure of vehicle roads and levying of road tolls; forced production and delivery of thatch shingles and bamboo poles; forced portering of military rations; and the theft and looting of villagers’ livestock. This report also explains how community members share food when confronting food insecurity, and attempt to ensure that children receive education despite financial barriers and teacher shortages.
Dooplaya Situation Update: August 2011  [News Bulletin]	Oct 12th, 2011
This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in August 2011 by a villager describing events occurring in Kawkareik, Kya In and Waw Raw (Win Yaw) townships of Dooplaya District between April and August 2011. The villager describes human rights abuses committed by soldiers from at least three Tatmadaw battalions, including: shelling of villages, resulting in civilian injuries and destruction of houses and food supplies; demands for the fabrication and delivery of thatch and bamboo, and for the provision of food; restrictions on villagers; detention, physical abuse, and killing of villagers; shooting of villagers; and a demand for villagers, including children, to clear the perimeter of a Tatmadaw camp. The villager also expresses concern that these abuses disrupt villagers’ livelihoods and the provision of education for children.
Papun Situation Update: Bu Tho Township, August 2011  [News Bulletin]	Oct 6th, 2011
This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in August 2011 by a villager describing events occurring in Papun District in January 2011 and human rights consequences for local communities. It contains updated information concerning Tatmadaw military activities and details the following human rights abuses: coordinated attacks on villages by Tatmadaw and Border Guard troops and the firing of mortars and small arms in civilian areas, resulting in displacement of the civilian population and the closure of two schools; the use of landmines by the Tatmadaw and non-state armed groups; and forced portering for the Tatmadaw and Tatmadaw Border Guards. The report also mentions government plans for a logging venture and the construction of a dam. Moreover, it documents villagers’ responses to human rights concerns, including strategic displacement to avoid attacks and forced labour entailing physical security risks to civilians; advance preparation for strategic displacement in the event of Tatmadaw attacks; and seeking the protection of non-state armed groups against Tatmadaw attacks and other human rights threats.
Tenasserim Interview: Saw T---, December 2010  [News Bulletin]	Oct 5th, 2011
This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted in December 2010 in Te Naw Th’Ri Township, Tenasserim Division by a villager trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions. The villager interviewed Saw T---, a 59-year-old village head who, at the time of interview, was in hiding from Tatmadaw troops in an area of Tenasserim Division beyond government control. Excerpts from Saw T---’s interview with KHRG have been published in the previous KHRG field report “Militarization, Development and Displacement: Conditions for villagers in southern Tenasserim Division” however, the full transcript of his testimony is now available below. Saw T--- described witnessing attacks on villagers by Tatmadaw soldiers and cited regular demands for villagers to serve as forced porters for the Tatmadaw and other forms of forced labour as one of the main factors which originally motivated him to go into hiding. Saw T--- explained that villagers in hiding employ a range of strategies to avoid Tatmadaw forces, including coordinating security strategies and sharing information with villagers at other hiding sites, maintaining contact with and seeking protection from non-state armed groups, cultivating crops that are easy to harvest quickly, travelling covertly to villages in mixed-administration areas in order to engage in trade and other livelihoods activities, and crossing vehicle roads during the night.
Civilian and Military order documents: March 2008 to July 2011  [Orders report]	Oct 5th, 2011
This report includes translated copies of 207 order documents issued by military and civilian officials of Burma’s central government, as well as non-state armed groups now formally subordinate to the state army as ‘Border Guard’ battalions, to village heads in eastern Burma between March 2008 and July 2011. Of these documents, at least 176 were issued from January 2010 onwards. These documents serve as primary evidence of ongoing exploitative local governance in rural Burma. This report thus supports the continuing testimonies of villagers regarding the regular demands for labour, money, food and other supplies to which their communities are subject by local civilian and military authorities. The order documents collected here include demands for attendance at meetings; the provision of money and food; the production and delivery of thatch, bamboo and other materials; forced recruitment into armed ceasefire groups; forced labour as messengers and porters for the military; forced labour on bridge construction and repair; the provision of information on individuals, households and non-state armed groups; and the imposition of movement restrictions. In almost all cases, demands were uncompensated and backed by implicit or explicit threats of violence or other punishments for non-compliance. Almost all demands articulated in the orders presented in this report involved some element of forced labour in their implementation.
Tenasserim Interview: Saw P---, Received in May 2011  [News Bulletin]	Oct 1st, 2011
This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted during May 2011 in Te Naw Th’Ri Township, Tenasserim Division by a villager trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions. The villager interviewed Saw P---, the 36-year-old head of a village in which Tatmadaw soldiers maintain a continuous presence. Saw P--- described the disappearance of a male villager who has not been seen since February 2010 when he was arrested by Tatmadaw soldiers as he was returning from his hill plantation, on suspicion of supplying food assistance to Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) troops. Saw P--- also described human rights abuses and livelihoods difficulties faced regularly by villagers, including: forced labour, specifically road construction and maintenance; taxation and demands for food and money; theft of livestock; and movement restrictions, specifically the imposition of road tolls for motorbikes and the prohibition against travel to villagers’ agricultural workplaces, resulting in the destruction of crops by animals. Saw P--- also expressed concerns about disruption of children’s education caused by the periodic commandeering of the village school and its use as a barracks by Tatmadaw soldiers. He explained how villagers respond to abuses and livelihoods challenges by avoiding Tatmadaw soldiers, harvesting communally, sharing food supplies and inquiring at the local jail to investigate the disappearance of a fellow villager.
Tenasserim Situation Update: Te Naw Th’Ri Township, April 2011  [News Bulletin]	Sep 26th, 2011
This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in April 2011 by a villager describing events occurring in Te Naw Th’Ri Township, Tenasserim Division between June 2010 and April 2011. The report details abuses related to land confiscation by Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) officials; forced labour, including forced USDP membership; and attacks on villages in hiding, including the burning of houses, food stores, a school dormitory and supplies by Tatmadaw forces. This report also contains updated information concerning active Tatmadaw units in five areas of Tenasserim Division and relates health and education concerns of villagers in hiding in three areas of Te Naw Th’Ri Township.
Pa’an Situation Update: April 2011  [News Bulletin]	Sep 21st, 2011
This report contains a situation update submitted to KHRG in April 2011 and written by a villager describing events occurring in Lu Pleh and Dta Greh townships in Pa’an District between February and April 2011. It contains information on incidents of forced labour by the Tatmadaw, including the use of villagers to build huts, deliver palm leaves for thatching buildings and provide unpaid forced labour during gold-mining and logging operations. It also documents the forced relocation of villagers from upland areas, and relates an incident in which a Tatmadaw deserter, who was later summarily executed by Tatmadaw troops, shot and injured a 53-year-old woman in Tantabin Township, Toungoo District. In response to human rights and related humanitarian concerns, including access to health care, the researcher reported that villagers travel covertly to seek medical care from cross-border groups, sell betel leaves to supplement incomes and laminate currency in plastic to prevent it from becoming damaged. This situation report also contains updated information on military activity in Pa’an District, specifically the defection of Tatmadaw Border Guard soldiers in February 2011 to a breakaway faction of the DKBA that had previously refused to transform into Border Guard battalions, and to the KNLA.
Tenasserim Interview: Saw K---, August 2011  [News Bulletin]	Sep 15th, 2011
This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted by a KHRG researcher in August 2011. The KHRG researcher interviewed Saw K---, a 30-year-old medic with the Backpack Health Worker Team (BPHWT), an organisation that provides health care and medical assistance to displaced civilians inside Burma. Saw K--- described witnessing a joint attack by Tatmadaw soldiers from three different battalions on a civilian settlement in Ma No Roh village tract, Te Naw Th’Ri Township, Tenasserim Division in January 2011. Saw K--- reported that mortars were fired into P--- village, causing residents and Saw K---, who was providing healthcare support in P--- village at that time, to flee. Saw K--- reported that Tatmadaw soldiers subsequently entered P--- village and burned down 17 houses, as well as rice barns and food stores belonging to villagers, before planting landmines in the village. According to Saw K---, the residents of P--- have not returned to their homes, and have been unable to coordinate to restart the school that was abandoned in P--- because most households now live at dispersed sites in the area.
Tenasserim Interview: Saw C---, Received in May 2011  [News Bulletin]	Sep 9th, 2011
This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted prior to Burma's November 2010 elections in Te Naw Th’Ri Township, Tenasserim Division by a villager trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions. The villager interviewed Saw C---, a 30-year-old married hill field farmer who told KHRG that he was appointed to the position of village head by his local VPDC in an area of Te Naw Th’Ri Township that is frequently accessed by Tatmadaw troops, and in which there is no KNLA presence. Saw C--- described human rights abuses faced by residents of his village, including: demands for forced labour; theft and looting of villagers' property; and movement restrictions that prevent villagers from accessing agricultural workplaces. He also cited an incident in which a villager was shot and killed by Tatmadaw soldiers while fishing in a nearby river, and his death subsequently concealed; and recounted abuses he witnessed when forced to porter military rations and accompany Tatmadaw soldiers during foot patrols, including the theft and looting of villagers’ property and the rape of a 50-year-old woman. Saw C--- told KHRG that villagers protect themselves in the following ways: collecting flowers from the jungle to sell in local markets in order to supplement incomes, failing to comply with orders to report to a Tatmadaw camp, and using traditional herbal remedies due to difficulties accessing healthcare. He noted, however, that these strategies can be limited, for example by threats of violence against civilians by Tatmadaw soldiers or scarcity of plants commonly used in herbal remedies.
Papun Situation Update: Dweh Loh Township, May 2011  [News Bulletin]	Sep 2nd, 2011
This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in May 2011 by a villager describing events occurring in Dweh Loh Township, Papun District between January and April 2011. It contains information concerning military activities in 2011, specifically resupply operations by Border Guard and Tatmadaw troops and the reinforcement of Border Guard troops at Manerplaw. It documents twelve incidents of forced portering of military rations in Wa Muh and K’Hter Htee village tracts, including one incident during which villagers used to porter rations were ordered to sweep for landmines, as well as the forced production and delivery of a total of 44,500 thatch shingles by civilians. In response to these abuses, male villagers remove themselves from areas in which troops are conducting resupply operations, in order to avoid arrest and forced portering. This report additionally registers villagers’ serious concerns regarding the planting of landmines by non-state armed groups in agricultural workplaces and the proposed development of a new dam on the Bilin River at Hsar Htaw. It includes an overview of gold-mining operations by private companies and non-state armed groups along three rivers in Dweh Loh Township, and documents abuses related to extractive industry, specifically forced relocation and land confiscation.
Papun Situation Update: Bu Tho Township, April 2011  [News Bulletin]	Sep 2nd, 2011
This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in April 2011 by a villager describing events occurring in Bu Tho Township, Papun District, during the period between January and April 2011. The villager describes the embezzlement of funds earmarked for road repair by government officials; increased taxation on vehicles, road use and the transport of goods; and demands for payment in lieu of forced labour levied by Border Guard Battalion #1013.
Papun Interview: Maung Y---, February 2011  [News Bulletin]	Sep 2nd, 2011
This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted in February 2011 in Dweh Loh Township, Papun District, by a villager trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions. The villager interviewed Maung Y---, a 32 year-old married hill field farmer, who described an incident that occurred on February 5th 2011, in which he and eight other villagers were arrested at gunpoint by Tatmadaw Border Guard Battalion #1013 soldiers and arbitrarily detained. During this time, Maung Y--- reported that they were forced to porter military rations and sweep for landmines using basic tools. He described how one villager was denied access to medical treatment and forced to porter despite serious illness, and reported that families of the detained villagers were forced to pay arbitrary amounts of money to the Battalion #1013 troops in order to secure their release. Maung Y--- also reported that, after this incident, his village was ordered by Battalion #1013 to produce and deliver 7,000 thatch shingles, as well as to provide four more villagers to serve as porters. In response to this, Maung Y--- reported that villagers had, at the time of interview, refused to comply with these forced labour demands.
Papun Incident Reports: November 2010 to January 2011  [News Bulletin]	Aug 24th, 2011
This report contains 12 incident reports written by a villager trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions, based on information provided by 12 different villagers living in hiding sites in Lu Thaw Township, Papun District between November 2010 and January 2011. The twelve villagers described human rights concerns for civilians prior to and during displacement to their current hiding sites, including: deliberate firing of mortars and small arms into civilian areas; burning and destruction of houses, food and food preparation equipment; theft and looting of villagers’ animals and possessions; and use of landmines by the Tatmadaw, non-state armed groups, and local gher der 'home guard' groups in civilian areas, resulting in at least one civilian death and two civilian injuries. The reports register villagers' serious concerns about food security in hiding areas beyond Tatmadaw control, caused by effective limits on access to arable land due to the risk of attack when villagers cultivating land proximate to Tatmadaw camps, depletion of soil fertility in cultivable areas, and a drought during the 2010 rainy season which triggered widespread paddy crop failure. To address the threat of Tatmadaw attacks targeting villagers, their food stores and livelihoods activities, villagers reported that they form gher der groups to monitor and communicate Tatmadaw activity; utilise early-warning systems; and communicate amongst themselves and with non-state armed groups to share information about Tatmadaw troop movements. Two villagers stated that the deployment of landmines by gher der groups and KNLA soldiers prevents access to civilian areas by Tatmadaw troops and facilitates security for villagers to pursue their agricultural activities. Another villager described how his community maintained communal agricultural projects to support families at risk from food shortages. These reports were received by KHRG in May 2011, along with other information concerning the situation in Papun District, including 11 other incident reports, 25 interviews, 137 photographs and a general update on the situation in Lu Thaw Township.
Village heads negotiate with Tatmadaw, armed groups to forestall human rights threats amid continued conflict in Dooplaya District  [News Bulletin]	Aug 13th, 2011
This bulletin details how six community leaders in Kawkareik Township, Dooplaya District negotiated with both the Tatmadaw and Karen armed groups in an effort to reduce threats to local villagers as conflict escalated in April 2011. Saw Bp---, the headman of T--- village, described how, prior to April, he and other village leaders met and communicated with local personnel from all parties to the conflict in order to maintain relations and prevent misunderstandings between civilians and each armed group. In April, threats to civilians intensified when a Tatmadaw camp was attacked multiple times, and villagers in the area made preparations to flee to more secure locations, with residents of one community opting to hide in the forest at night and only return to their village during daylight. Village leaders continued to engage and negotiate with the Tatmadaw, and raised the threat of civilian displacement in response to Tatmadaw threats to burn villages, to prevent serious human rights abuses until a new Tatmadaw battalion rotated in to the area. This report is based on information provided by Saw Bp--- to a KHRG researcher in May 2011.
Nyaunglebin Interview: Naw Sa---, May 2011  [News Bulletin]	Aug 5th, 2011
This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted by a KHRG researcher in May 2011 with a villager from Ler Doh Township, Nyaunglebin District. The researcher interviewed Naw Sa---, a 26-year-old villager who described human rights and humanitarian conditions in her village, in a mixed administration area under effective Tatmadaw control. Naw Sa--- cited the following human rights concerns: forced relocation and displacement; demands for provision of food; shelling of civilian areas, resulting in civilian injuries; arrest and detention of villagers; physical violence against detained villagers; forced labour, including sentry duty; and movement restrictions. She also explained the challenges to accessing medical care and adequate education for children faced by members of her community; and described how villagers returned to work covertly on their agricultural projects in order to protect their livelihoods, after they were ordered by the Tatmadaw to abandon their village.
Nyaunglebin Interview: Saw My---, May 2011  [News Bulletin]	Aug 4th, 2011
This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted by a KHRG researcher in May 2011 with a villager from Ler Doh Township, Nyaunglebin District. The researcher interviewed Saw My---, a 45 year-old farmer who described his experiences when he was forced to leave his village in a mixed-administration area and live for two years in a neighbouring village, including specific incidents in which Tatmadaw soldiers fired small arms at children in school uniforms, forced women to serve as human shields for Tatmadaw columns during patrols, and ordered villagers at gunpoint to leave their homes and possessions during the rainy season. He further cited the following abuses: movement restrictions; forced labour; and arbitrary taxation and demands. Saw My--- also highlighted the difficulties his village currently faces accessing health care and education, but explained that villagers counter these difficulties by using traditional medicine and by hiring and supporting local teachers.
Nyaunglebin Interview: Naw Ka---, May 2011  [News Bulletin]	Aug 3rd, 2011
This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted by a KHRG researcher in May 2011 with a villager from Ler Doh Township, Nyaunglebin District. The researcher interviewed Naw Ka---, a 50-year-old villager who described the situation prior to and after her community was forcibly relocated by the Tatmadaw in 2007. Naw Ka--- cited the following human rights abuses in her testimony: forced labour, including sentry duty and portering; arrest and detention, including physical violence against detained villagers; forced relocation; and movement restrictions. The interviewee also described the humanitarian challenges people in her community have faced, including serious constraints on access to adequate education for children, healthcare, and food. In order improve their humanitarian situation, Naw Ka--- explained how residents of her village decided to return to their homes in 2010 without formal permission from the Tatmadaw, despite villagers' fears that this action entailed serious risks to their physical security.
Nyaunglebin Interview: Saw Th---, May 2011  [News Bulletin]	Aug 2nd, 2011
This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted by a KHRG researcher during May 2011 with a villager from Ler Doh Township, Nyaunglebin District. The researcher interviewed Saw Th---, a 37-year-old farmer and village elder, who described his experiences living in Tatmadaw-controlled relocation sites for over two years and in a village in a mixed-administration area, in which various Tatmadaw battalions and non-state armed groups operated. Saw Th--- described the following abuses: forced relocation; movement restrictions; taxation and demands; and forced labour including forced portering and camp maintenance. He said he believed that forced labour demands have decreased due to media attention on the issue. Saw Th--- also explained that villagers pursued agricultural livelihoods activities secretly while living in forced relocation sites, to lessen the impact of movement restrictions; and used herbal medicines because medical infrastructure and access to medical care were inadequate.
Nyaunglebin Interview: Saw S---, May 2011  [News Bulletin]	Jul 30th, 2011
This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted by a KHRG researcher in May 2011 with a villager from Ler Doh Township, Nyaunglebin District. The researcher interviewed Saw S---, a 17 year-old student who compared his experiences living in a Tatmadaw-controlled relocation site, and in his own village in a mixed-administration area under effective Tatmadaw control. Saw S--- described the following abuses: killing of villagers; forced relocation; movement restrictions; taxation and demands; theft and looting; and forced labour including portering, sentry duty, camp maintenance and road construction. Saw S--- also discussed the impact of forced labour and movement restrictions on livelihoods; access to, and cost of, health care; and constraints on children's access to education, including the prohibition on Karen-language education. In order to address these issues, Saw S--- explained that villagers attempt to bribe military officers with money to avoid relocation, and with food and alcohol to lessen forced labour demands; conceal from Tatmadaw commanders that villagers sometimes leave the village to work without valid permission documents; and go into hiding to protect their physical security when conflict occurs near the village.
Nyaunglebin Interview: Naw P---, May 2011  [News Bulletin]	Jul 26th, 2011
This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted by a KHRG researcher in May 2011 with a villager from Ler Doh Township, Nyaunglebin District. The researcher interviewed Naw P---, a 40-year-old farmer who described her experiences living in a Tatmadaw-controlled relocation site, and in her original village in a mixed-administration area under effective Tatmadaw control. Naw P--- described the following human rights abuses: rape and sexual violence; indiscriminate firing on villagers by Tatmadaw soldiers; forced relocation; arrest and detention; movement restrictions; theft and looting; and forced labour, including use of villagers as military sentries and porters. Naw P--- also raised concerns regarding the cost of health care and about children’s education, specifically Tatmadaw restrictions on children’s movement during perceived military instability and the prohibition of Karen-language education. In order to address these concerns, Naw P--- told KHRG that some villagers pay bribes to avoid forced labour and to secure the release of detained family members; lie to Tatmadaw commanders about the whereabouts of villagers working on farms in violation of movement restrictions; and organise covert Karen-language education for their children.
Dooplaya Interview: U Sa---, July 2011  [News Bulletin]	Jul 22nd, 2011
This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted by a KHRG researcher in July 2011 in Kawkareik Township, Dooplaya District. The researcher interviewed U Sa---, who described how his family and other residents of Pa--- village faced threats and abuses from Tatmadaw soldiers after local DKBA forces captured a Tatmadaw soldier at his home on June 15th 2011. U Sa--- described the following abuses: threats to burn or shell civilian areas; shelling of civilian areas; indiscriminate use of small arms in civilian areas; the taking of civilians as hostages; threats to kill civilians; and the imposition of movement restrictions, including threats to shoot villagers violating restrictions on sight. U Sa--- explained that he and his family fled Pa--- on June 16th to avoid these threats; as of July 3rd, they did not yet feel safe to return to their home. This interview was conducted by a KHRG researcher in July 2011; other details on the situation in Pa--- village after June 15th, including a general situation update, one incident report, and three photographs were submitted by a different KHRG researcher in June and July 2011.
Toungoo Interviews: March and April 2011  [News Bulletin]	Jul 20th, 2011
This report contains the full transcript of three interviews conducted during March and April 2011 in Tantabin Township, Toungoo District by a villager trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions. The three female interviewees described the following abuses: attacks on villages, villagers and livelihoods, killing of villagers, theft and looting, taxation and demands, displacement, forced labour, including the production and supply of building materials and forced portering. They also raised concerns regarding food shortage, the provision of education for children during displacement caused by Tatmadaw attacks, and access to healthcare. One of the women explained that villagers co-operate with non-state armed groups and other villagers to share information about Tatmadaw movements, prepare secret caches of food in the forest outside their village in case of a Tatmadaw attack, and hold school classes outside of their village in agricultural areas during displacement caused by Tatmadaw attack. These interviews were received along with other information from Toungoo District, including a general update on the situation in Toungoo District, ten incident reports, seven other interviews and 350 photographs.
From Prison to Front Line: Analysis of convict porter testimony 2009 – 2011  [Regional or Thematic report]	Jul 13th, 2011
Over the last two decades, KHRG has documented the abuse of convicts taken by the thousands from prisons across Burma and forced to serve as porters for frontline units of Burma’s state army, the Tatmadaw. In the last two years alone, Tatmadaw units have used at least 1,700 convict porters during two distinct, ongoing combat operations in Karen State and eastern Bago Division; this report presents full transcripts and analysis of interviews with 59 who escaped. In interviews with KHRG, every convict porter described being forced to carry unmanageable loads over hazardous terrain with minimal rest, food and water. Most told of being used deliberately as human shields during combat; forced to walk before troops in landmine-contaminated areas; and being refused medical attention when wounded or ill. Many saw porters executed when they were unable to continue marching or when desperation drove them to attempt escape. Abuses consistently described by porters violate Burma's domestic and international legal obligations. If such abusive practices are to be halted, existing legal provisions must be enforced by measures that ensure accountability for the individuals that violate them. This report is intended to augment Dead Men Walking: Convict Porters on the Front Lines in Eastern Burma, a joint report released by KHRG and Human Rights Watch in July 2011.
Nyaunglebin Interviews: May 2011  [News Bulletin]	Jun 29th, 2011
This bulletin contains the full transcripts of three interviews conducted by KHRG researchers in May 2011 with villagers from Ler Doh Township, Nyaunglebin District. The interviewees described the following human rights issues: forced relocation; threats to shell or burn villages; movement restrictions, including curfews, the requirement of travel permission documents and the restriction of river travel by boat; theft and looting; restrictions on the transport of medicine in civilian areas; arrest and enforced disappearance; killing of villagers; forced labour, including portering, camp and road construction and maintenance, the production of construction materials, and sentry duty; the use of villagers to shield Tatmadaw troops during foot patrols; and abuse by non-state armed groups. The villagers also raised concerns regarding food insecurity, access to livelihoods and access to health care, particularly while living in forced relocation sites. In order to address these concerns, the interviewees explained that villagers use strategies including: covert travel to agricultural projects to avoid curfews and movement restrictions; individual and collective negotiation, including with senior military authorities or non-military authorities; bribery; false compliance with relocation orders; submission of petition letters; and temporary strategic displacement to evade immediate human rights threats. These interviews were received in May 2011 along with ten other interviews with villagers from Nyaunglebin District.
Tatmadaw shelling kills one child, injures another in Mae T'Ler village  [News Bulletin]	Jun 16th, 2011
On June 7th 2011, a seven-year-old child was killed and a 17-year-old child and 25-year-old woman were injured in Mae T'Ler village when Tatmadaw LIB #283 fired more than thirty 81 mm mortars into several villages, while repelling a DKBA attack on a hilltop Tatmadaw camp approximately five kilometres away from Mae T'Ler. This bulletin is based on information and photographs submitted by a KHRG researcher in Dooplaya District between June 10th and 16th 2011.
Toungoo Situation Update: April 2011  [News Bulletin]	Jun 13th, 2011
This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in May 2011 by a villager describing events occurring in Toungoo District, during the period between 2006 and April 2011. It contains updated information concerning military activity, specifically the replacement of Tatmadaw battalions under MOC #7 with MOC #9. It also details the following human rights issues: movement restrictions, including road closures and travel restrictions, and the requirement that villagers purchase permission documents to work and travel; restrictions on the transport of medicine and staple food items to civilian areas; forced labour, including portering, production of building materials, messenger duty and road maintenance; the use of civilians’ vehicles to sweep for landmines; civilian injuries resulting from the use of landmines by the Tatmadaw and non-state armed groups; and the prohibition of Karen language education in government schools. This situation update also documents villagers’ responses to abuses, including negotiation with Tatmadaw officers, false compliance, and lying to avoid complying with forced labour demands. This report also discusses concerns regarding limited access to health care; limited access to quality education for children; and food insecurity due to abnormal weather and limited availability of essential commodities.
Toungoo Interviews: March and April 2011  [News Bulletin]	Jun 8th, 2011
This bulletin contains the full transcripts of three interviews conducted in March and April 2011 in Thandaung and Tantabin townships, Toungoo District by a villager trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions. The interviewees described the following human rights concerns: arrest and detention; forced labour, including production of building materials, guide duty, and forced portering, including by children; arbitrary taxation, including for political party membership; movement restrictions, including the imposition of a curfew; theft and looting; and attacks on villagers, resulting in death and injury to villagers. The interviewees also raised concerns regarding: the impact of movement restrictions on villagers’ livelihoods; high prices of basic commodities; limited access to health care, including prohibitive costs for villagers with limited financial resources; and disruptions to children’s education caused by teacher absences from schools. One villager also explained that civilians who own trucks avoid travelling on the Toungoo to Kler La vehicle road, in order to avoid being ordered to transport Tatmadaw supplies and equipment with their vehicles. These interviews were received by KHRG in May 2011 along with other information from Toungoo District, including: a general update on the situation in Toungoo District, five incident reports, three other interviews, and 700 photographs with researcher notes.
Toungoo Interviews: November 2010 to April 2011  [News Bulletin]	Jun 6th, 2011
This report contains the full transcript of five interviews conducted with villagers in Thandaung Township,Toungoo District by a villager trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions. The interviewees described the following human rights concerns: arbitrary taxation and demands; forced labour including road maintenance, guiding, and messenger duty; forced portering, including by children, and use of civilian porters as human shields; movement restrictions including de facto travel and livelihoods restrictions due to Tatmadaw patrols and attacks on civilians; restrictions on transporting essential foodstuffs and medicines; attacks on villages; the killing of villagers; attacks on livelihoods and agricultural projects; theft and looting, including of places of worship; risks to civilians from landmines; physical beatings; and rape. The interviewees also voiced concerns regarding food insecurity and food shortages; limited access to adequate health care; disruptions to children’s education when teachers are unavailable; limited access to education for children in hiding; and the difficulties villagers face from multiple armed groups, specifically when non-State armed groups attempt to intercept Tatmadaw rations while villagers are portering. The interviewees also described different strategies villagers use to address threats to their human rights and livelihoods, including: hiding from Tatmadaw patrols and working covertly on agricultural projects to avoid attacks; avoiding Tatmadaw camps and checkpoints to avoid forced labour demands; sending fewer villagers than demanded for portering Tatmadaw supplies; negotiating with non-State armed groups to avoid activities that might lead to villagers being punished by Tatmadaw soldiers; and cooperation between villagers in hiding and villagers in Tatmadaw-controlled areas, including economic cooperation. These interviews were received in May 2011 along with other information from Toungoo District, including seven incident reports, five other interviews, one situation update and 453 photographs.
Joint Tatmadaw patrol burns field huts and seed stores, displace six villages in Toungoo District  [News Bulletin]	Jun 2nd, 2011
Tatmadaw forces continue to target civilian settlements and food supplies in upland areas of Toungoo District. On May 15th 2011 a joint patrol of LIBs #375 and #541 looted civilian property and burned down six field huts containing stores of paddy seed belonging to villagers in Ku Ler Der village, Tantabin Township. Residents of Ku Ler Der and five other villages in the area fled their homes before the patrol entered in the area and, as of May 20th, remained in hiding and actively monitoring whether Tatmadaw operations in the area would continue. The loss of food production inputs, and displacement away from agricultural projects, comes at a time when villagers in the affected communities, and throughout eastern Burma, are struggling to finish planting hill fields whil anticipating food shortages in the coming year, after irregular weather damaged cash crop plantations and undercut harvests in 2010. This report is based on information submitted by two KHRG researchers in Toungoo District on May 20th 2011.
Toungoo Incident Reports: March and April 2011  [News Bulletin]	May 27th, 2011
This report contains 15 incident reports written by ten villagers describing 25 incidents of human rights abuse that occurred in Toungoo District prior to April 2011. The reports describe 17 incidents of forced labour, including forced portering of Tatmadaw supplies, the production and supply of building materials and forced messenger duty; four incidents in which villagers were shot and/ or killed; two incidents of arbitrary arrest and detention; one incident of theft and looting; one incident of rape; and one report of travel restrictions in Tatmadaw-controlled areas. The reports also register villagers' concerns about food security as a result of regular demands for forced labour, as well as serious threats to villagers’ physical security from exposure to landmines and armed conflict when they are forced to porter for the Tatmadaw. As a result of the serious consequences of demands for forced labour on villagers’ livelihoods, one villager reported that villagers negotiate with Tatmadaw officers in order to reduce or alter forced labour demands. These reports were received by KHRG in May 2011, along with other information from Toungoo District including: four other incident reports, five interviews, one situation update, 346 photographs and 36 video clips.
Toungoo Situation Update and Interviews: May 2010 to January 2011  [News Bulletin]	May 25th, 2011
This report from Toungoo District contains the following information submitted by villagers trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions: one situation update submitted in February 2011 describing events occurring in Toungoo District during the period between May 13th 2010 and January 31st 2011; four statements from villagers in Tantabin Township, collected in October 2010; and full transcripts of five interviews conducted in December 2010 in Tantabin and Thandaung townships. The ten villagers who provided information for this report chose to focus on the following issues: recent military activity, including Tatmadaw troop reinforcement and camp reconstruction in January 2011; the killing of villagers; attacks on and burning of villages; attacks on livelihoods, including the burning of cardamom plantations; repeated or prolonged displacement; forced relocation; forced labour, including taxation in lieu of forced labour; forced portering; the use of civilians to sweep landmines; theft and looting; and movement restrictions. This report also documents villagers’ responses to these abuses, including: the provision of intentionally incomplete household numbers to the Tatmadaw; and the preparation of hiding sites and food caches in the forest by villagers expecting to use strategic displacement to avoid abuse by Tatmadaw forces. Villagers also express serious concerns regarding food insecurity due to abnormal weather in 2010, rising food prices, the cost and quality of children’s education and the use of landmines by the Tatmadaw and non-state armed groups.
Thaton Situation Updates: May 2010 to January 2011  [News Bulletin]	May 18th, 2011
This report includes two situation updates written by villagers describing events in Thaton District during the period between May 13th 2010 and January 31st 2011. The villagers writing the updates chose to focus on issues including: updates on recent military activity, specifically the rebuilding of Tatmadaw camps, and the following human rights abuses: demands for forced labour, including the provision of building materials; and movement restrictions, including road closure and requirements for travel permission documents. In these situation updates, villagers also express serious concerns regarding food security due to abnormal weather in 2010; rising food prices; the unavailability of health care; and the cost and quality of children’s education.
Three villagers killed, eight injured during fighting in Kyaikdon area  [News Bulletin]	May 17th, 2011
Research submitted by a KHRG field researcher indicates that fighting between DKBA and Tatmadaw troops between April 22nd and April 30th 2011 in Kya In Township has left at least three civilians dead and eight injured. The indiscriminate firing of mortars and small arms in civilian areas by armed groups involved in the conflict, and conflict related abuse including an explicit threat by Tatmadaw forces to burn civilians’ homes, caused at least 143 villagers from Gkyaw Hta, Khoh Htoh, T'Aye Shay and Mae Naw Ah villages to seek refuge in the Ra--- area of Thailand between April 22nd and 30th 2011. As of May 13th 2011, KHRG confirmed that the firing of mortars and small arms was ongoing in the areas of K’Lay Kee and Noh Taw Plah, and that some villagers continued to seek refuge at discreet locations in Thailand.
Acute food shortages threatening 8,885 villagers in 118 villages across northern Papun District  [Regional or Thematic report]	May 11th, 2011
At least 8,885 villagers in 118 villages in Lu Thaw Township, Papun District have either exhausted their current food supplies or are expecting to do so prior to the October 2011 harvest. The 118 villages are located in nine village tracts, where attacks on civilians by Burma’s state army, the Tatmadaw, have triggered wide scale and repeated displacement since 1997. As tens of thousands of civilians in northern Karen State have been displaced, over-population in hiding areas where civilians can more effectively avoid attacks has created shortages of arable land, depleted soil fertility and reduced potential crop yields. Civilians forced to cultivate land or live near Tatmadaw camps, meanwhile, have faced recent attacks, including indiscriminate shelling and attacks on food supplies, buildings and livelihoods. These existing obstacles to food security were compounded by an unusually dry rainy season in 2010, coupled with other environmental factors, causing the 2010 harvest to fail. The impact of acute food shortages on the civilian population is magnified by budgetary constraints of local relief organisations, which can access the affected area but are currently unable to provide emergency assistance to many of those facing food shortages. This regional report is based on research conducted by KHRG researchers in Lu Thaw Township in February and March 2011, including 41 interviews with villagers and village and village tract leaders in the affected areas. This research was augmented by interviews with members of local relief organisations in February, March and April 2011.
Pa’an interviews: Conditions for villagers returned from temporary refuge sites in Tha Song Yang  [News Bulletin]	May 6th, 2011
This report contains the full transcripts of seven interviews conducted between June 1st and June 18th 2010 in Dta Greh Township, Pa’an District by a villager trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions. The villager interviewed seven villagers from two villages in Wah Mee Gklah village tract, after they had returned to Burma following initial displacement into Thailand during May and June 2009. The interviews report that they did not wish to return to Burma, but felt they had to do so as the result of pressure and harassment by Thai authorities. The interviewees described the following abuses since their return, including: the firing of mortars and small arms at villagers; demands for villagers to porter military supplies, and for the payment of money in lieu of the provision of porters; theft and looting of villagers’ houses and possessions; and threats from unexploded ordnance and the use of landmines, including consequences for livelihoods and injuries to civilians. All seven interviewees also raised specific concerns regarding the food security of villagers returned to Burma following their displacement into Thailand.
Tatmadaw attacks destroy civilian property and displace villages in northern Papun District  [News Bulletin]	Apr 8th, 2011
Tatmadaw forces continue to deliberately target civilians, civilian settlements and food supplies in northern Papun District. On February 25th 2011 shelling directed at communities in Saw Muh Bplaw, Ler Muh Bplaw and Plah Koh village tracts in Lu Thaw Township displaced residents of 14 villages as they sought temporary refuge at hiding sites in the forest. After villagers fled, Tatmadaw troops looted civilians’ possessions, burned parts of settlement areas and destroyed buildings and food stores in Dteh Neh village. No civilian deaths or injuries were reported to result from this shelling; local village heads confirmed that all villagers affected managed to flee to safe locations during the shelling, many because of warnings received through a locally-developed system to alert community members of attacks. This report is informed by KHRG photo documentation, as well as interviews with and written testimony from a total of nine village heads, village tract leaders and village officials from communities located or hiding in the affected area. An additional 41 interviews conducted during February and March 2011 in Lu Thaw Township were also drawn upon.
Villager shot and killed by Tatmadaw in southern Dooplaya  [News Bulletin]	Apr 5th, 2011
This bulletin details the killing of Pah Te--- by Tatmadaw troops in southern Dooplaya District. Pah Te--- was shot and killed by troops from LIB #407 as he and his wife returned to their field hut on the night of February 24th 2011. The soldiers fired on Pah Te--- and his wife without hailing or warning them, and do not appear to have made an effort to verify that the villagers were legitimate military targets before directing an attack at them. Information in this bulletin is based upon interviews with local community members, as well as photographs of Pah Te---’s body. Because Pah Te---'s body was photographed seven days after he was killed, readers should be advised that images in this bulletin are graphic.
Militarization, Development and Displacement: Conditions for villagers in southern Tenasserim Division  [Field report]	Mar 22nd, 2011
Villagers in Te Naw Th’Ri Township, Tenasserim Division face human rights abuses and threats to their livelihoods, attendant to increasing militarization of the area following widespread forced relocation campaigns in the late 1990s. Efforts to support and strengthen Tatmadaw presence throughout Te Naw Th’Ri have resulted in practices that facilitate control over the civilian population and extract material and labour resources while at the same time preventing non-state armed groups from operating or extracting resources of their own. Villagers who seek to evade military control and associated human rights abuses, meanwhile, report Tatmadaw attacks on civilians and civilian livelihoods in upland hiding areas. This report draws primarily on information received between September 2009 and November 2010 from Te Naw Th’Ri Township, Tenasserim Division.
KHRG Photo Gallery 2010-B  [Photoset]	Feb 24th, 2011
The second installment[1] of KHRG's Photo Gallery 2010 includes 95 still photographs selected from images taken by KHRG field researchers since December 2009. Of these photos, 50 were taken between December 2009 and March 2010, and 45 were taken between April and July 2010. Photos were taken in Papun, Nyaunglebin, Toungoo, Mergui/Tavoy, Pa'an and Dooplaya districts of locally-defined Karen State, as well as at sites on the Thai side of the Thailand – Burma border. This edition of the gallery has been divided into six subsections: Establishment of Border Guard Forces and strategic displacement; Involuntary repatriation of refugees in Tha Song Yang District; Surviving with dignity beyond military control; Life under military control; Livelihoods under strain; Landmines; and Children in armed conflict.
Extrajudicial execution of two civilians in Pa'an District  [News Bulletin]	Feb 15th, 2011
On November 29th 2010 Saw T---, a 27-year-old man from Lu Pleh Township, Pa’an District was arrested, tortured and executed by soldiers from Tatmadaw Border Guard Force Battalion #1015, following accusations that he had made contact with and provided information to the KNU. In a separate incident that occurred on November 19th 2010 Saw M---, a 75-year-old man, was executed at point blank range by soldiers from a different unit of the same Border Guard Force Battalion #1015, after being asked to step outside his house in Dta Greh Township, Pa’an District. This news bulletin is based on information KHRG received from Saw T---’s wife on February 1st 2011 and from Saw M---’s son in mid-December 2010.
Mother of newborn shot and killed in Papun District  [News Bulletin]	Jan 26th, 2011
On October 13th 2010, a 24-year-old woman was shot and killed less than 45 minutes after she had given birth, when Tatmadaw troops opened fire on her house during an attack on her village in Dweh Loh Township. This news bulletin is based on an interview conducted with the woman’s husband, who has been staying with his newborn son and another one of his sons at R--- refugee camp in Thailand since December 10th 2010.
Human rights abuses and obstacles to protection: Conditions for civilians amidst ongoing conflict in Dooplaya and Pa’an districts  [Field report]	Jan 21st, 2011
Amidst ongoing conflict between the Tatmadaw and armed groups in eastern Dooplaya and Pa’an districts, civilians, aid workers and soldiers from state and non-state armies continue to report a variety of human rights abuses and security concerns for civilians in areas adjacent to Thailand’s Tak Province, including: functionally indiscriminate mortar and small arms fire; landmines; arbitrary arrest and detention; sexual violence; and forced portering. Conflict and these conflict-related abuses have displaced thousands of civilians, more than 8,000 of whom are currently taking refuge in discreet hiding places in Thailand. This has interrupted education for thousands of children across eastern Dooplaya and Pa’an districts. The agricultural cycle for farmers has also been severely disrupted; many villagers have been prevented from completing their harvests of beans, corn and paddy crops, portending long-term threats to food security. Due to concerns about food security and disruption to children’s education, as well as villagers’ continuing need to protect themselves and their families from conflict and conflict-related abuse, temporary but consistent access to refuge in Thailand remains vital until villagers feel safe to return home. Even after return, food support will likely be necessary until disrupted agricultural activities can be resumed and civilians can again support themselves.
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